Description

When I learned about Kickstarter doing a Make/100 campaign, I thought it was a very cool idea. Its an Kickstarter Special ESP8266 + FTDI Board where I will only make 100 of them. The Kickstarter has launched! Read more below.

Details

When I learned about Kickstarter doing a Make/100 campaign, I thought it was a very cool idea. Not only does it get people making things, but it also introduces those same people into doing a small production run(<100), a way to get their feet wet if you will. I decided to put together a very quick project - has to be started by the end of January! - to be involved with this campaign. Its not overly complicated, some of you will think its pointless, some of you will love it(I do.), but we can all agree influencing people to become makers is a good thing, and I want to be apart of it.

Decided to create a small breakout board(+ 6" connector cable) for the ESP Everywhere, and ship it for a small addition cost in the kickstarter. It will save you from having to do another separate order.

It has already been added to the Kickstarter and to the GitHub repo. The board will come with the surface mount connector soldered on, but your choice to add the 0.1" headers.

I will be launching this small Make/100 Kickstarter tomorrow! If you want to be part of the project and be one of the 100 to get an assembled board from me, be sure to keep an eye on this project. Or better yet Sub to my Youtube: Http://youtube.com/SeanHodginsFilms When the Kickstarter video goes live on my YouTube, the Kickstarter will also be Live! Starting at 11 a.m. EST. Get there quick!

The BOM has also been updated, and a link provided for the Digikey Cart.

Might want to reconsider the ground fill around that antenna. You have voided the top, but still blocked the antenna on the back side with that ground fill.

I would recommend leaving *both* the top and bottom an entire *strip* (not just a rectangular cutout) cleared of ground fill as they would interfere with the radiation pattern antenna. That is unless you have done a proper RF antenna simulation...

Yeah, you're correct, I am planning on removing more ground layer from the upper area of the component side. I will probably leave the copper on the design side for aesthetics purposes. There wasn't a significant decrease in performance(if any) on the other boards I've made that have similar designs. If you're looking for extreme range, there are plenty of better ESP boards out there! Haha

sounds great. But I would like to ask about potential backdoors in the design. I know that is not a question that can be answered (or can it, if so, please I, and I think others would like to know).

Not trying to be negative at all, sounds like a cool project, but these days, because of the factors like google and several other 'companies' being born out (and made to be dominant goliath companies which was inextricably linked to both internal funding and utilization of both legal and subterfuge (including mafia) networks and spying on the average individual (for the sake of total state control (orwellian stuff yes) ) .

I very much like Hackaday so far, but I will ask these questions (sorry again, no offense ot the project, probably good work, it did feel a bit canned though.. )

Craig below addressed some of my questions, forgive the newbie (me) and my somewhat paranoid comment/question. I do think this is a valid question to ask in general, but certainly want to say, the people here do seem above all that. Thanks Craig for explaining for me, I do think the project looks good. The resources here are to notch in skills and supportive, I love it.

Thank you, I just had to ask the question, and wanted it to be addressed. More detail (as time proceeds) will be appreciated. I do not mean to instill fear, it is a relevant question, and I do think the folks here are quite solid, please tolerate my concerns, as they are not without reason. Thanks for the feedback, and would like to be more educated in this area.

it's not like a linux based IP camera that runs a telnet console with standard credentials, if you mean that, far from that. If you yourself don't place over-the-air programming in the code, then the only way to make it do something else is physical access for reprogramming the chip. It's like a bigger arduino with a com port that speaks WiFi. If you make it turn on your lights or switch something big like a remote controlled fire place, then it's up to you to ensure safety.

Gotcha, thanks for that. I think I must have just come from a session on reddit, where it's become a bit of a snake pit (that's all political infiltration though ;)

But thanks for expanding on it, I am new here and still a bit overwhelmed with all the cool stuff, kinda hard to focus as of yet, a bit like a kid in the candy shop :), Most of the stuff I have only skimmed over, great place.